mother cat behavior

Question
Hi. My question is easy and just out of curiosity on my part. My cat just gave birth to her first litter and I've observed that each time I'm around and close to the kittens she'll either not approach where they are or try to distract me away from them, doing things like meowing and going to her food bowl, which is in another room, when she couldn't possibly be hungry because she just ate a whole can of food. Or, she'll sit and stay put until I move away. I know it'd make perfect sense for her to do such things as she tries to protect her kittens. I'm always amazed at how wise Mother Nature is, and I'm just wondering if these smart moves are common among mother cats.

Answer
Hi Viviana,

Mom cats run the gamut from not doing anything for her litter to extreme protective behavior. Your cat's behavior is just about right. She knows you aren't a threat to her kits but she just wants to make sure. It is pretty amazing what is imprinted in their minds.

The food behavior is one thing I would look into a bit more. Are you feeding her kitten food? Canned kitten food is what should be fed to her while she is taking care of kittens. Her body has extra nutritional needs that regular cat food really doesn't meet.

Good luck and take care.

Ciao, Karen